AdventureLink launches xTours, the first global Software as a Service [SaaS] reservation platform for booking tours online with STA Travel as launch partner.
(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - March 23rd, 2017 - STA Travel adopts AdventureLink’s xTours to drive online tour bookings
AdventureLink launches xTours, the first global Software as a Service [SaaS] reservation platform for booking tours online with STA Travel as launch partner.
LOS ANGELES, March 23, 2017 – AdventureLink has launched xTours xtours.adventurelink.com/ the first Software as a Service [SaaS] reservation platform for booking multi-day, unique experiences online.
The tour industry represents an $89 billion-dollar market growing at 17% per year, fueled by baby boomers and millennials seeking authentic travel experiences. Historically, the tour industry has been challenged in developing a global distribution system (GDS) to facilitate online reservations for consumers and travel agents. The AdventureLink xTours platform solves this challenge by providing a complete online solution for searching, comparing and booking from 20,000 trips in 160 countries, allowing our partners to offer unique travel experiences the world over.
Kelly Tompkins, CEO & Founder of AdventureLink said, “We are excited to launch xTours as the first and only GDS of its kind! Tour operators can now connect via a standardized API, which accommodates and maintains all their inventory and facilitates real-time bookings. Simultaneously, we are seeing a growing audience of travelers seeking experiential travel opportunities and retail partners that see the opportunity in selling these types of trips.”
AdventureLink and STA Travel collaborated to further enhance the xTours platform. STA Travel, the largest student travel organization globally, needed a solution that allows travelers to search, compare and book tours online, while matching pricing and special offers available in their retail stores. STA determined that AdventureLink’s xTours was the only solution available that could meet all their requirements from merchant credit processing, multi-currency, multi-lingual, promotions and managing STA’s preferred network of suppliers.
STA’s online tour bookings have seen a significant increase since integrating xTours. Paul Maine, STA’s Chief Commercial Officer stated that “We are very pleased with the xTours platform and the partnership we have with AdventureLink has allowed us to rapidly grow our online tour business. xTours gives us ownership of the customer relationship and the ability to effectively merchandise and grow our online tour business.
With bookings averaging between $3,500 to $5,000 and commissions starting at 10%; the xTours platform unlocks the largest commission opportunity in travel today. The platform is highly flexible and supports a wide variety of partners. For example, STA Travel http://www.statravel.co.uk/tours-worldwide.htm uses the fully customized private label version, while companies like Travel+Leisure http://www.travelandleisure.com/vacation-packages use the co-branded version where AdventureLink handles customer service and payment processing.
Richard Launder, President at The Travel Corporation stated “AdventureLink will play a key role in opening up new distribution channels, while lowering our call center costs by selling directly on the xTours platform.”
Through a single connection to AdventureLink, both large and small tour operators can efficiently reach tens of thousands of travel agents and millions of consumers. Tour operators can also use the xTours booking engine to power their own web sites, while taking advantage of AdventureLink’s distribution network to reach new channels. AdventureLink provides tour operators with retail revenue management and promotional merchandising tools so they are always in control of margins.
AdventureLink will be rolling out several major online and traditional travel agency partnerships in the coming months. Contact AdventureLink and schedule a demo to find out how you can boost your tour booking revenues today http://xtours.adventurelink.com/demo/.
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About AdventureLink
AdventureLink Travel Inc. is the world’s leading software as a service [SaaS] provider for online travel providers, traditional travel agencies, media companies or tour operators looking for an online booking solution. AdventureLink represents over 20,000 trips to 160 countries worldwide. AdventureLink’s distribution partners includes: STA Travel, Time Inc., Travel+Leisure, Gannett Publishing, USA Today. For more information visit www.xtours.adventurelink.com.
About STA Travel
STA Travel is the world’s largest youth travel company and every year we send more than 2 million passengers on life-changing adventures. Today we have more than 2,000 people in over 250 stores in 12 countries, including Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States. It also works with franchisees, joint ventures and licensed partners in a further 52 countries www.statravel.com.
About The Travel Corporation
The Travel Corporation (TTC) is a highly successful, family-run international travel group with 30 award-winning brands which include luxury hotels and boutique river cruise ships, niche guided vacations, and other leisure interests. The Travel Corporation's award-winning brands include Trafalgar, Contiki, Brendan Vacations, Insight Vacations, Lion World Travel, African Travel, Inc., The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, and Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection. The Travel Corporation's guiding principle is "Driven by Service" to create enriching travel experiences for our guests by combining an unbeatable mix of exceptional service and quality. For more information, please visit https://ttc.com.
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